Kessy, Ross Secure Silver Medals in Moscow

B.J. Hoeptner Evans
Manager, Media Relations and Publications
Phone: (719) 228-6800
E-Mail: bj.evans@usav.org

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (June 13, 2010) – The U.S. women’s beach volleyball team of Jen Kessy and April Ross came away with the silver medal on Sunday while two U.S. men’s teams will compete in Monday’s semifinals of the SWATCH FIVB World Tour Grand Slam Presented by Seat  in Moscow, Russia.

Kessy (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) and Ross (Costa Mesa, Calif.), the tournament’s second-ranked team, fell to China’s eighth-seeded Chen Xue and Xi Zhang in Sunday’s gold-medal match, 21-17, 21-19 in 41 minutes. They split $29,500 for second place. It was the fourth international medal the team has won this season and the first silver.

Kessy and Ross reached the final with an 18-21, 21-18, 15-13 semifinal win in 58 minutes over third-seeded Maria Antonelli and Talita Antunes of Brazil. 

In the bronze-medal match, top-seeded Juliana Felisberta Silva and Larissa Franca defeated Antonelli and Talita 21-18, 21-18 in 41 minutes. Juliana and Larissa were upset by Xue and Zhang in the semifinals.

On the men’s side, the U.S. team of Phil Dalhausser (Ormond Beach, Fla.) and Todd Rogers (Santa Barbara, Calif.), the tournament’s No. 1 seed, and the17th-ranked U.S. team of Casey Jennings (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Brad Keenan (Westminster, Calif.) have both advanced to Monday’s semifinals.

The men’s medal matches will also be played Monday, which is a Russian holiday.

Dalhausser and Rogers will face third-seeded Julius Brink and Jonas Reckermann of Germany in the second semifinal. Jennings and Keenan will play 13th-seeded Penggen Wu and Linyin Xu of China. It will be Jennings’ and Keenan’s first international semifinal match as a team.

Dalhausser and Rogers, who have won three of the first four SWATCH FIVB World Tour gold medals this season, advanced to the semifinal with wins over 18th-seeded compatriots Jake Gibb (Bountiful, Utah) and Sean Rosenthal (Redondo Beach, Calif.), 21-14, 21-8 in 34 minutes followed by a 21-8, 21-17 win in 37 minutes over 23rd-ranked Sebastian Dollinger and Stefan Windscheif of Germany.

Dollinger and Windscheif advanced to the third round by defeating the U.S. team of Matt Fuerbringer (Costa Mesa, Calif.) and Nick Lucena (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.), seeded 22nd, in the second round, 2-1 (21-18, 15-21, 15-11) in 59 minutes.

Jennings, who played in an FIVB final last season in Poland with Fuerbringer, and Keenan became the first U.S. team to reach the semifinals by posting a forfeit win over 11th-seeded Harley Marques and Pedro Salgado of Brazil. The third-round match started with Jennings and Keenan leading 7-6, but Salgado could not continue due to a leg injury.

Keenan, who will be playing in his first-ever  FIVB semifinal, and Jennings opened play Sunday by eliminating 12th-seeded Grzegorz Fijalek and Mariusz Prudel of Poland, 17-21, 21-15, 15-13 in 54 minutes in the second round.

For more information about the FIVB World Tour event in Brazil, visit the SWATCH FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour web site.

Tags: April Ross, Beach, Beach Volleyball, Brad Keenan, Casey Jennings, FIVB beach, FIVB World Tour, Jennifer Kessy, Matt Fuerbringer, Nick Lucena, Phil Dalhausser